


TWENTY SEVEN

by Chocolatos



Series: Minho and Gwiboon [3]
Category: SHINee, 소녀시대 | Girls' Generation | SNSD
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Originally Posted on LiveJournal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26272531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chocolatos/pseuds/Chocolatos
Relationships: Choi Minho/Kim Gwiboon, Jung Sooyeon | Jessica/Kwon Yuri, Lee Jinki | Onew/Lee Taemin
Series: Minho and Gwiboon [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1901074
Kudos: 1





	TWENTY SEVEN

_DUK! DUK!_  
  
“Gwiboon!”   
  
_DUK! DUK!_  
  
“Gwiboon!”  
  
Jonghyun growls in his sleep, trying to block the loud banging on his door. The middle-aged man pulls the blanket over his head, wanting to catch up with his dream.   
  
“Gwiboon!”  
  
_DUUK! DUUK!_  
  
“Tsk, coming.” Jonghyun doesn’t open his eyes and wanders towards the front door, relying only on his feeling to find the way.  
  
“Gwib-oh, good night Mr. Kim, is Gwiboon inside?”  
  
“Sorry?”  
  
“Mr. Kim?”  
  
Jonghyun glances over his shoulder to the digital clock above the shoe rack and scratches his stomach before yawning widely and turning back to the boy in front of him.  
  
“Minho, it’s late. What are you doing here?”  
  
If Minho is impatient, he’s clever enough not to show it. “Is Gwiboon here? I didn’t see her today in school. I’m sorry, Sir, but I need to talk—“  
  
“She’s gone,” Jonghyun gives the boy a look, now fully awake. Minho only stares at him in confusion.  
  
“Gone? Where? Is she coming back tomorrow?” Minho swallows hard, not fully digesting what he’s just heard. “Sir, I—I think I’m coming back here again tomorrow after school. I—“  
  
“—she’s not coming back.”  
  
Minho’s brow furrowed, and he laughs awkwardly, “I’m sorry to bother you, Sir but—“  
  
“It’s late, just go home.”   
  
It’s a soft warning. Jonghyun gives a light pat on Minho’s shoulder and sighs when the boy doesn’t show a sign of whether Minho is even listening to what he’s just said or not. Jonghyun already knew that something had happened, when Gwiboon abruptly voiced out her decision of following her mother to America. Now it’s proven true, Minho’s face falls upon hearing the news.   
  
“Didn’t she tell you?” Jonghyun carefully asks, but it’s more like a statement than a question. He knows the answer.

After a momentary silence, Minho bows and steps away from Jonghyun. He says nothing but stares at the floor, mind full of questions: _did he do something wrong? Why didn’t she tell him instead of leaving without a word?_  
  
Minho feels his pulse is getting fast when he walks to his car. His jaw tightened and hands clenched into fists. He just remembered Gwiboon had avoided him since the last time they met on the ring. Even though Minho didn’t understand why, he tried to understand, giving her time, a space without knowing what bothered her.  
  
“Damn it!”

Minho punches the steering wheel once he’s inside the car, accidentally blowing the horn as his head falls on it. He tries to shut the system on his brain down because there’re a lot of questions floating around his head. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why do you always keep everything alone?” The picture of a smiling Gwiboon on the dashboard stares at him, giving no answer, and Minho only snorts, not knowing what else to do.  
  
“Gwiboon, you're so mean. You never notice me. How obvious I should be?”   
  
Minho thinks he might be crazy for talking to an inanimate object but he doesn’t care because the pain inside of him grows, the feeling of being betrayed. Minho pulls down her picture before starts the engine, turning the radio up because he can’t stand the silence. “I was just joking, about Eunsoo. We’ve been together for ages, Gwiboon, why can’t you define—shit!”  
  
He can’t sustain on the way he misses her. Already.

_"Minho, can't you... YAH! Why_ _are you filming me? No, don’t, I look ugly.”_  
  
_“You look just fine.”_  
  
_“Turn it off! Turn. It. Off! Choi Minho! I just woke up.”_  
  
_“Don’t cover your face, I can’t see you.”_  
  
_“Minhoooo…” the fifteen-year-old Gwiboon threw a pillow toward Minho, but he ducked it and jumped to the other side of the room._  
  
_“Just blow your candles, old woman.”_  
  
_“I’m just two months older!” Gwiboon whined but smiling nonetheless_.

Gwiboon didn’t feel like going out tonight actually, but Dongwoon kept on insisting and her mother didn’t help at all. Don’t even ask about Yuri, because she was the one who convinced her mother not to listen to her plea of staying at home with her twin stepsisters. So here Gwiboon is now, standing alone in the darkness, holding a makeshift map that’s supposed to lead her somewhere. Gwiboon isn’t sure where she is now, because the map has brought her into an empty and dark rooftop on the abandoned old school instead of sky dining place at a five-star restaurant. It’s creepy.  
  
“He’s got to be kidding me.” Gwiboon lets out an exasperated sigh and ready to dial numbers she knows by heart and leaves. Who knows there’s a rapist hiding somewhere behind the pillar.

“Hello? Where are you? Wait, no, don’t hang up, I can hear you, just talk… hello, hello? Tsk,” she stares at her phone, pouting. “Wait until I get you, asshole.”  
  
“You gotta stop cursing.”  
  
Gwiboon rolls her eyes and just throws the Prada over her shoulder. A loud smack heard as she turns around and faces the culprit who’s now rubbing his head.

“I have my chilly spray with me so don’t play dirty things on me.”  
  
“What dirty things?” Dongwoon snaps back, but now grinning like an idiot. Gwiboon facepalms, her boyfriend is an idiot.  
  
“Can I have a normal boyfriend?”  
  
Dongwoon pouts, but pulls her closer by the waist, “you talk as if I ain’t normal.”  
  
“You are,” she whines, “I’d rather be in my bed instead of playing with one of your jokes. What are you up to, anyway?”  
  
Dongwoon grin reaches his ears. “I wanna show you something.”  
  
“What is it?”  
  
The man pats her head lightly with a paper in his hand, “live a little,” and he jogs to the other side of the rooftop. “Ready?”  
  
“Did you kill someone and want to show me the corpse— _OH GOD_.” Her eyes widen and she claps a hand to her mouth, seeing the view before her. There’re lights, plants, flowers, vines, everywhere, and she turns around to look at the little garden on the rooftop. There are even an old couch and a little gazebo on the corner of the rooftop. “Where did you get that?” Gwiboon runs into the hammock and throws herself onto it, swinging like a kid. Dongwoon just laughs, because she always says she wants one, but her mother didn't let her.  
  
“Do you like it?”  
  
Gwiboon nods and reaches out her hand to him. He finds himself beside her, both them then lie down side by side on the hammock with her pillowing his chest. “Did Mom and Yuri help you with this?”  
  
“Sort of.” Dongwoon plants a brief kiss on her head. “Nicole and Jinwoon too. Even Hongki.”

Gwiboon looks up, chuckling when he looks at her back with a deep frown on his temple. “What?”  
  
“I’ve been thinking.”  
  
“Surprise me.”  
  
“How to convince you to be Mrs. Son.”  
  
She chokes, “what?”  
  
The man shifts and gets up. He taps one of his fingers on his nose, like really been drowning into deep thought before he finally grins. “I have something else for you.”  
  
Gwiboon holds her breath when he pulls out something from his pocket and kneels down in front of her. She knows what he tries to lead her into. _Don’t say it, don’t say it_ , the words keep spinning on her head. _You know if you say it we can’t be together, don’t you?_  
  
“Kim Gwiboon.” Dongwoon smiles and Gwiboon feels like being stabbed by a blade. She doesn’t deserve this, she doesn’t. Dongwoon is a good man.

“Will you marry me?”

"Are you sure about this?” Two young women lie down on the grass at the hill near the residence, staring at the sea of stars in the sky. The shoulder-length brunette tilts her head and waits for the blonde to say something. “Seriously?”  
  
“You see the giant rock on my finger over here?” Gwiboon nonchalantly puts her hand upon display, eyes closed. “Then yeah, I’m sure.”

But, both of them know her voice tells the opposite.  
  
Nicole props her head on her hand, now facing her friend completely. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on inside the little head of yours but—“ Nicole sighs, “it’s not like you love him.”  
  
“Says who?”  
  
“Says yourself. I mean, fine, you two have been friends for years, but do you love him? Love, love him? Are you sure?”  
  
“Of course, I love Dongwoon. More than anything in the world,” Gwiboon tries to sound nice. It’s spoken just barely above the whispering level.

Nicole side-eyeing her with doubt and it triggers Gwiboon even more.

“Well, what do you expect me to say? That I am not sure about my own feeling? Or, that I will realize how much I love him, someday and he just has to be patient about it? Or, that while he's waiting for me to be sure, he just has to be satisfied by being my best friend?”  
  
Nicole falls back into the grass, rolling her eyes. “Seriously? It’s been ten years already. I can’t believe you’ve been lying to yourself this long.” She pauses when Gwiboon glares at her. “I’m not sure we even talk about the same person. Is it Dongwoon or Minho that you talked about?”  
  
Reality hits Gwiboon and it hurts because it’s true. She shrugs. “I’m going home next week.”  
  
It makes Nicole turns around and looks at her in disbelief. “Girl, you can't be serious. What are you planning to do.”  
  
“I don't plan to do anything. Nicole, you’re supposed to be my best friend,” Gwiboon blurts out and stands up. “My mother and Yuri had already questioned my motive and you’re the last person on earth I expect to give me that look.”  
  
“Not because I’m your best friend, then I have to agree with everything you do.” The hurt on Gwiboon’s face tells Nicole she’s going overboard this time. “Fine. Just tell me you won’t do something stupid, like, searching for Choi Minho, maybe, then I’ll shut my mouth.”  
  
Gwiboon nods and tears away. “I’m not sure,” she finally says and doesn’t flinch when Nicole wraps her arms around the smaller figure. “What should I do? I just need my closure.”

_"Choi Minho,_ _don’t be a coward.”_

_A little Gwiboon laughed, seeing Minho struggled to stand still on the ice. “What so difficult about this? ” She slid gracefully, “ …or this,” and twirled, “… and this.” She did the triple spins. “Just admit you lose and I’ll teach you.”_  
  
_The ten-year-old Minho pursed his lips, “no way.”_  
  
_“Whatever.” Gwiboon slid away and didn’t take time for her to enjoy skating alone. She didn’t realize she’d been skating for half an hour until the loud bang heard from the other side of the ring. “Minho?”_  
  
_Gwiboon hurriedly skated toward the other boy, who had just face-planted on the ice. She looked worried to death, but Minho just shyly grinned while rubbing his sore temple._

_“_ _I’m fine, I was just—“_  
  
_“You're so stupid. You don't have to win all the time.” Gwiboon's voice was harsh, but her gaze was soft. She stretched her hand, with a playful cocky smile on the edge of her lips. “Skating alone is boring.”_  
  
_Gwiboon helped him standing and Minho thought it didn’t matter if he lost for once, because it felt just right when she skated backward with her hands on his, patiently coaxing and helping him. They took their time, skating slowly while looking at each other with silly grins on each other’s faces._  
  
_“See, it’s fun, isn’t it?”_  
  
_Minho nods._

_It's because I have you here with me, Gwiboon._

Finding a nice place to live in Seoul within a week is the same as trying to find a needle inside the haystack. Gwiboon finally gets her own place in the south part of the city. It isn’t too fancy, but that’s enough because she will not stay for long, only during the wedding preparation. Gwiboon doesn’t want to risk her life for walking on her father’s love life. He has a girlfriend now. Returning to their old house is out of the option. That explains the boxes mounted on her newly rented apartment’s door.  
  
“Oh, my back hurts.” Gwiboon sprawls exhaustively on the floor with the door wide open. Just by looking at the mess around her and the boxes on the door, makes her lazy to even lift her fingers. She wants to take a nap and wake up with everything neatly arranged by themselves if that’s even possible.  
  
Her phone goes off and, “you’ve got a message, you’ve got a message,” Gwiboon childishly mimics the kid’s voice when it announces the new arrival message. She knows it must be her fiance. She rolls over her stomach and reaches out for the phone on the couch, even too lazy to stand. “Ah, that’s too far...,” Gwiboon whines to the wind when the phone slips out of her grasp and rolls over to the door. That’s when she notices the small pair of feet hiding behind the boxes, shifting from one foot to another.  
  
Gwiboon squints her eyes and crawls over to the boy in uniform, poking her head out of the door. “Hey there, little one. What’s your name?”  
  
The boy blinks.  
  
“Hmm, I’m Gwiboon,” she gets up and squats down in front of the boy, offering a handshake. “It’s clean, you know.” Gwiboon wipes her hand to her shirt, trying to crack a joke. She retracts her hand when the boy doesn’t seem to be interested. “Do you want to come in?”  
  
The boy smiles, and his big eyes somehow remind her of someone. Her heart suddenly glitches.   
  
“I guess you’re not interested in me, aren’t you?”  
  
The boy seems to think about something else, but then he smiles again, showing a line of his white teeth, and then he shrugs.  
  
“You’re the first boy who ignores me like this.” Gwiboon pats the boy’s head lightly and straightens herself. “How old are you?”  
  
He looks up to the ceiling before setting his eyes back at her, wiggling his brows.  
  
“Do you want me to guess? What do I get?”  
  
He lifts his fingers, beckoning her to bend down and Gwiboon doesn’t know why she even bothers to follow the order, but she does.  
  
“What—oops,” Gwiboon touches her cheek. The little boy has kissed her lightly. He grins, stuck out his tongue, and runs to the flat across hers, leaving the stunned Gwiboon by herself. “What was that?”

_"It’s so itchy, I got bitten by mosquitoes.”_  
  
_“Shut up Boonie, it won’t do.”_  
  
_Eight-year-old Gwiboon yawned and propped her head on the back of her hands under her chin, watching how Minho’s face turned serious. She looked at the direction where Minho had been staring at for the past forty minutes. She didn’t know what they were doing actually, he just dragged her out of the bed and now they were staring at the darkness in her garden. Her mother wouldn’t be so happy if she found this. “What are we doing, anyway?”_  
  
_“I don’t know,” Minho turned his head, and Gwiboon’s mouth agape, “I just feel like it.”_  
  
_Sometimes Gwiboon just couldn’t understand Minho._

Some things stay the same. Even after ten years, Gwiboon still finds the spicy rice cakes stall in the same place as it’s used to be. She spends a good thirty minutes eating the hot snack and chatting with the owner, remembering the old times.  
  
“Where is he?”  
  
“Who?” Gwiboon asks back with her mouth full, some sauce dripping on her chin and the old man laughs while offering her a tissue.  
  
“Your boyfriend, that tall, big-eyed boy.”  
  
Gwiboon grimaces, “he's not my boyfriend. Well, he wasn't.”  
  
“Did you guys break up?”  
  
“Yeah, poor him,” she chews on her rice cake. For an old man, he surely catches up with gossips. “I think I’m done.” Gwiboon wipes her mouth and pays for her snacks, but the old man returns the money while smiling widely.  
  
“It’s a treat, you can pay me later when you two get back together, promise?”  
  
Gwiboon grins, feeling like banging her head to the nearest wall. “I’m getting married, actually.”  
  
“With him?” The owner looks overly excited and Gwiboon doesn’t have the heart to tell him the truth. So she just scratches her head and grimaces. She’ll deal with it later, not as she’ll ever meet this man again, isn’t she?  
  
Gwiboon pretends she is casual when saying, “maybe.”

"Maybe? Why did I say that? Oh, what was I thinking?"

One habit Gwiboon owns is talking to herself. She unconsciously pushes the trolley around the organic vegetable section in a supermarket nearby, after the brief encounter with the rice cake stall owner. Gwiboon picks up three small packages of broccoli and throws them all unceremoniously, before spotting a young preschooler in the instant foods section. The boy looks familiar. Gwiboon grins mischievously, maybe she can have her revenge on the little boy who gave her an innocent kiss just a day before.  
  
“Hi.” Gwiboon gives the boy’s head a light pat, causing him to look up, annoyed. Gwiboon smiles in victory. “That’s for kissing me without asking. I don’t kiss on the first date, you know.”  
  
The boy stares at her like she’s a weirdo.  
  
“It’s a joke,” she sneers. Who knows talking with a toddler could be this difficult. “Are you alone?”  
  
The boy looks around and grins, pointing at the tall man with a short curly hair standing with his back facing them not so far away. He looks like he's having a hard time deciding which milk tastes better.

“Is he your father?”  
  
The little boy nods and Gwiboon suddenly falls in love with this boy's smile. His eyes, his big eyes really look similar to someone from the past. Gwiboon is snapped back into reality when she feels a light tug on her sleeves.  
  
“Yes, do you need anything?”

The boy shakes his head. He pulls her to run with him as if wanting her to meet his father. Well, Gwiboon loves to do that, really. Who doesn’t want to meet the parents of this adorable kid? However, time is tight. So, Gwiboon lifts her phone up, saying, “I’m sorry, I gotta go.”  
  
The boy pouts, bravely jumping to take her phone away, but she puts it out of his reach.  
  
“That’s not nice.” Gwiboon shakes her head, but the boy is already crossing his arms. Her phone doesn’t stop buzzing. "I’ll come by to greet your parents later, okay.” She pinches the boy’s chubby cheek. He glares at her but Gwiboon stuck out her tongue just like he did yesterday. She waves at him while taking the call. Her fiance doesn’t like to wait.

"Hey, didn't I tell you not to talk with a stranger?” Minho flicks his son’s head. The boy turns around, laughing when his father tickles the part behind his ear. A sight of a blonde-haired woman’s back catches his eyes. “Who’s that Yoogeunie?”  
  
“Mom,” says Yoogeun merrily, averting his gaze to the cartoon of chocolate milk on his father’s hand. Minho stares at his son blankly. The guilt slowly built inside him knowing how his son needs his mother. Unfortunately, he and Yoogeun’s biological mother agreed to leave the boy with him. Her ex-wife wanted to pursue her dream of becoming a model or whatever he didn’t give a damn about. It was a mistake, being a rambler on his younger days and things went a little out of hand. He took the responsibility, didn’t he? Even though he couldn’t really give all his attention to his son, because of his works as an accountant. However, seeing how the boy randomly addressing someone as his mother, is bothering him. Is he being paranoia?  
  
“Mom?” Minho repeats after a while. The boy nods and shrugs, moving to grab boxes of chocolate milk from Minho’s hand and returning them to the racks. “Yoogeun only drinks banana milk, Papa.”  
  
Minho looks at the direction of that blonde-haired woman again for a while, before looking back at Yoogeun, “since when?”  
  
“Today.”

It is slowly tiring for Gwiboon to put on a show. The preparation of her wedding has drained her energy a lot. The constant demands from her fiance make this bride be having a second thought about this whole marriage plan. Nicole’s words keep spinning in her head and Gwiboon doesn’t want to do something she might regret. Besides, another urge to just find _him_ makes it a lot harder than she thought. On her ten days of staying in Seoul, only her father and Taemin know about her being in Seoul.  
  
“Are you okay?” The concerned face of her fiancé on the screen gets her back to life. Gwiboon fakes a yawn, telling him she just needs to rest. They’re just meeting through texts and emails or on Skype if she’s lucky. He’s busy touring with his band now and here she is, preparing for the sudden marriage alone. “Get some sleep, you look pale.”  
  
She knows her fiancé tries to keep up with her too, but he looks annoyed by her pulling off the bull on him. It shows on his face more often these days. “I miss you.” Gwiboon touches his face through the screen and suddenly another face pops in and she gets a screen full of happy Hongki’s face.  
  
“Gwiboon, you said you would marry me!”  
  
She laughs, Hongki is always a dork. “I did, but your guitarist gave me a bigger diamond. I wouldn't say no.”  
  
“Material Girl,” Hongki sighs before being smacked by Dongwoon. Gwiboon feels like crying when he smiles because she knows they’re already losing power. Both of them need reassurance from each other.  
  
“I love you.” Dongwoon says, and Gwiboon bites her lips, knowing she’s so fucked up. Dongwoon looks right at Gwiboon. Her body is here, but her mind is somewhere else. She thinks Dongwoon can't tell that she's disconnected from him.  
  
“I know. Goodnight.”

Gwiboon can’t even say that word back.

"What is that?”

Minho side-eyed his son while pouring the milk into Yoogeun's cup. It’s one of the rare occasions seeing him in the pajamas bottom and shirt on Sunday morning. Usually, he still has to go to a meeting somewhere around the country. Yoogeun has adapted real fast to wake up early and be driven to the Choi mansion, spending day by day with his grandparents.  
  
“It's Mom,” brief answer coming from Yoogeun, who's busy drawing on the table. Minho stops midway. Yoogeun has been like this since a few days ago. He has been talking about this stranger on and on. Yoogeun also keeps bugging him to just spare sometimes to accompany him greeting the new resident across their apartment. Seriously, how’s important that lady is, why does he have to meet her? If she has some manner, shouldn’t she be a good neighbor and greets them properly first?   
  
“Mom?”

Minho, again, only repeats what his son said. He massages the bridge of his nose tiredly and sits beside Yoogeun. It’s his fault for not giving Yoogeun much attention, but it’s going overboard now. The brief space on the refrigerator has almost full of pictures of the blonde lady. He can’t help but feeling a kind of jealousy seeing how his son seems can’t get over the woman. What has she done? 

“Is she nice?”  
  
“The cookies were delicious,” Yoogeun looks up from his drawing, rummaging through his box of crayons. Minho taps his fingers. So the cookies they ate yesterday were from her? He thought it was from the Nanny. “Papa, where’s the yellow crayon?”  
  
Minho’s long arm reaches out for the said crayon and gives it to the boy. It engrosses both of them in a drawing of three people holding hands in front of the small house. The lady in the picture has blonde hair.

“Yoogeun, do you want to the amusement park?”  
  
It’s an instant deal, Minho knows he gets the boy’s attention back, his eyes shimmering with joy. “But Yoogeun has to finish drawing first.”  
  
“You can draw that later.” Minho takes the boy’s hand with him, grinning. “Now, go shower.”  
  
“But Papa…”  
  
Minho doesn't want to lose to a stranger. He has to gain his son's attention back.

Gwiboon has just woken up on Monday noon, having a little quality time with tea and gingerbread when her door banged loudly. Chuckling, she puts her mug down and jogs to the front door. Her huge white floral buttoned-up shirt swayed gracefully. She knows who’s on the door because there’s only one person who would bang her door like that. Not that she’s complaining.  
  
“Hey, stranger,” she squats down; the chubby-cheeked boy in uniform now stands shyly in front of her, hiding something on his back. “Have just back from school?”  
  
The boy just nods. He still doesn't talk. Gwiboon thought he was mute at first before hearing him chuckling once when she tickled him a couple of days ago. He was screaming for his dad. Gwiboon finds him cute. If there’s one thing that keeps her sane from the stress and the urge to find Minho, It's this boy.  
  
“Tell me your name, you haven’t told me yet, and it’s not fair, you know mine.”

Gwiboon pretends to be sad but he just sways his hand side to side. Gwiboon laughs, pursing her lips and he leans in to kiss her on the lips.

“Good boy, here,” she sits in, crossing her legs and the boy sits on her lap. His back pressed against her chest as she wraps her arms around the preschooler. “What’s this?”  
  
They’re looking at the picture of three people holding each other’s hands in front of a small house. Gwiboon doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry seeing a huge ‘Mom’ written above the picture of a blonde-haired woman, a picture of a tall but too thin man with short curly hair is on her left side. While another picture of what she assumes to be the boy is on her right.  
  
“Is this for me?” Gwiboon blinks when he stands up and looks at her expectantly. The boy does nothing but smiles sweetly and shrugs. His dimple is killing. “Thank you, but tell me your name first.”  
  
He giggles, running to her nanny who’s waiting on the door across hers. “Yoogeun,” he quickly retorts and disappears. The Nanny only smiles apologetically before getting inside their apartment.

"Hyung.”

Minho is about to undress when Taemin calls later that night, his voice sounds happy as always.

“Noona is here.”  
  
“Which Noona?” Minho throws the dirty shirt into the hamper like a pro. “I thought Jinki Hyung is enough for you.”  
  
Minho can hear the younger rolling his eyes. “You know who I’m talking about, Hyung, don’t play dumb.”  
  
He’s not playing dumb, he really doesn’t know that _she’s_ here. He breathes in and out, gets a grip. It wasn’t a simple thing to get over her years ago. He doesn’t like what he’s hearing now. He doesn’t feel like listening.  
  
“Minho Hyung? Are you still there?”  
  
“Yeah?”

Minho sits on the floor, resting his back on the bed. Gwiboon was the best that ever happened to his life, he even made believe that she was still there with him while she wasn’t. It took some time for him to finally let go, after all the failed attempts of trying to reach her. She never replied even one of his hundred mails. If, if he ever gets to see her again, will it be just the same as it was?  
  
“Do you love her?”  
  
Minho laughs awkwardly. “I don’t know what to say. I’ve never thought of her that way.”  
  
“You aren’t a Casanova for nothing, aren’t you? Still great at lying.” Taemin huffs, “you never thought about her that way. Okay, I get it, but you can start thinking about her that way, now. Yoogeun needs a mother—“  
  
“—Yoogeun has nothing to do with this.”

Don’t blame Minho for sounding a bit angry. He gets emotional whenever his son is brought into a conversation. Taemin stays silent and Minho tries not to lose control.

“I can’t, Taemin, she’s… she was my best friend, I really have never loved her... like that.”  
  
“Never? Or are you just scared?”  
  
This conversation doesn't lead them anywhere. Minho huffs. “What do you want?”  
  
“I miss Yoogeun, can you bring him over tomorrow on our movie night?”  
  
Minho can easily imagine that Taemin is already planning something. “Do we still have a movie night? I thought it stopped since it was always me, left alone while the two of you make out on the couch.”  
  
“I don’t mind watching Spongebob. Yoogeun likes it, doesn't he?”  
  
Sometimes, Minho doesn’t understand the way Taemin’s brain works.

Minho should have known this from the very beginning. ‘Movie night’ is actually him being cornered by Taemin grinning like he knows all the secrets in the universe. Bringing Yoogeun along in the school night is a bad idea because Yoogeun and Taemin are both bouncy rabbits. They are draining the energy out of both him and Jinki.  
  
“Admit it,” Taemin bats his long lashes, flicking his red hair before Yoogeun jumps into him. Soon, the two of them are wrestling with each other on the couch.  
  
Minho eyes Jinki, “how could you stand him?”  
  
Lee Jinki sips his drink nonchalantly. “It’s also a mystery to me.”  
  
Minho grimaces, is it only him or people around are turning insane?

Minho doesn’t get to find the answer. Not even hours after when he drives back to his apartment with half-asleep Yoogeun on the passenger seat. The kid looks adorable with half-lidded eyes and Jinki’s Rubik cube in his little hands. He whines and opens his eyes wide when Minho tries to take the toy away.  
  
“Taeminnie Hyung said Yoogeun has to finish this.”  
  
“You can do that tomorrow.” Minho offers gently. “Do you want Papa to piggyback you?”  
  
Yoogeun shakes his head and gets out of the car with Minho following behind. The father and son walk hand in hand into their apartment building with a big laugh on their faces. They don’t expect the overrated scene occurs before their eyes when they step out of the elevator on their floor.  
  
“Excuse me.”

Minho coughs awkwardly while covering Yoogeun’s eyes with his hand. There’s a couple blocking their way. He doesn’t have a problem with people being affectionate, but can’t this to get a room and not eat each other’s face in public?

“Can you, I mean, you’re blocking—“  
  
Minho wishes he didn’t say no when Yoogeun wanted to sleepover at Taemin’s house. He wished Jinki to persuade him harder. That way, he won’t be here now. He wishes he isn’t here now. Minho feels all the bottled up things he used to keep alone explodes when the blonde-haired woman in the black mini dress turns around. She stares at him. Minho doesn’t miss the way those feline eyes widen in shock. She peeks at the little boy who’s whining and struggling in the middle.  
  
“Mommy!”  
  
The boy exclaims and Minho quickly claps his hand over Yoogeun’s mouth to prevent him from making a scene. Both Minho and the woman stare at one another, trying to catch a missing piece on each other’s puzzles. The hint of knowledge reflected in their eyes and Minho tears away because he doesn’t like to see her swollen lips, her flushed cheeks, and another pair of arms wrapped around her waist.  
  
“Mommy?” It’s a male voice, but it doesn’t belong to Minho, “Gwiboon, what’s this—“  
  
“We’re late,” Gwiboon quickly cuts the man’s words and pulls him into the elevator. Minho silently laughs at himself for this little surprise. Minho turns around right before the elevator closed and makes sure Gwiboon hears him.  
  
“Thank you for taking care of my son,” and he bows.  
  
Minho is sure he’s not imagining things when Gwiboon’s feet shifted a little before stilled.

"What are you doing?” Gwiboon throws a napkin to Dongwoon’s head when she spots him and Yoogeun having a little staring contest in the living room.  
  
“He’s staring at me,” Dongwoon retorts without breaking the contact. Yoogeun is crossing his arms while looking at the older man with an equal, determined look. Gwiboon only rolls her eyes seeing the childish demeanor of what so-called fiancé of hers.  
  
“He’s just a kid. He was staring at me too when we first met.”  
  
“But he looks like he wants to strangle me.”  
  
Gwiboon brings herself to where the two males are. She holds up Yoogeun before facing Dongwoon. “You’re late, it’s already two.”  
  
“Tell me why I should go alone again?” This time, he tears away from the boy, making Yoogeun grins in victory, probably because of winning their little game.  
  
“Because Yoogeun’s nanny asked me a favor. He needs to take a nap now.”  
  
Dongwoon growls but accepts his jacket from Gwiboon, “Where is his mother? Oh wait, he even calls you Mommy. Are you sure he’s not your illegitimate son?”  
  
“Very funny. Just go, you need to meet Father Yunho in twenty minutes.” Gwiboon answers, ignoring the question. Yoogeun has already climbed down and now hugging one of her legs. “Go, so I can put this boy to sleep and have my quality time after that” Gwiboon pushes Dongwoon towards the door lightly and he gives a look at the boy before finally gives in.  
  
“He’s just a kid, but he knows what a good catch is.”  
  
Gwiboon frowns, “sorry?”  
  
“No.” Dongwoon smiles apologetically and kisses her on the cheek. Yoogeun only stuck his tongue in when Dongwoon ruffles his hair. He doesn’t like it when someone messes up with his hair. “Don’t even think about it, Dude. She’s mine.” Dongwoon laughs on his own line, while both Gwiboon and Yoogeun look at him with odd looks in their eyes. “Okay, I’m going now.”  
  
She waves at him and blows air up to her fringes. A sudden thought crosses her mind as she looks down at the boy sitting on the floor.

“Do you want to sleep now?”

Yoogeun looks up and contemplates.

“Or… do you want to go shopping with me? We can find power rangers too.”  
  
He claps his hands in excitement and starts running around happily. Gwiboon can’t stay mad longer from the unexpected last night event. She has fallen for the boy without knowing he’s Minho’s son, so she’ll stay that way. She won’t care about Minho.  
  
Or she tries not to care.

The heat radiating from the sun is nothing compared with what Minho feels right now. He jogs down from his office on floor five to the basement, forgetting there’s a device called elevator once his hired babysitter tells him that she had to go somewhere. She left Yoogeun to the lady across the door.  
  
“Wait? What? How could you, I pay you a lot so you can watch over my son!”

Minho steps on the gas, trying to catch up the speed without getting a speeding ticket, which is a hard thing to do.

“No no no, you can’t just leave him with stranger… oh yes she’s stranger.” Minho then continues to nag on the phone because the last thing he wants to happen is his child being left alone and abandoned. Well, not literally, but… after finding the blonde stranger whose Yoogeun has addressed as Mommy, he’s not sure he’s ready to confront Gwiboon again.  
  
“You can’t just leave and—wait...”

Minho suddenly cuts the line off when he spots a light-blonde haired woman dressed in a simple white tee and skin-tight jeans crossing the road casually with Yoogeun beside her. It’s a perfect picture actually, that two of the important people in his life walking together like that. However, Minho is still under the impression that Gwoboon left him ten years ago and she shouldn’t be forgiven. Not after what he saw last night. Minho's mind clouded with jealousy and he doesn’t think straight when he walks out of the car in the middle of a traffic light. He grabs Gwiboon's shoulder, turning her around and shouts,  
  
“Where do you think you’re going?”  
  
Gwiboon doesn’t expect the full-forced blow coming from behind and she just stares, can’t even knit words together when Minho harshly yanks Yoogeun out of her grasp. “Minho, we’re just—“  
  
“Stay away from my son.”

_"If you can stop_ _being a pervert for once, we wouldn’t be here.”_

_The sixteen-year-old Gwiboon pushed Minho’s chest rather harshly. She was in a rage because she just got detention for something she didn’t do. It was Minho, being all curious about a new freshman who sent him endless love messages that brought them into the freshman’s class. She was dragged because he felt like it like he always did._  
  
_“Not my fault, she launched herself onto me and what was I supposed to do when a girl wanted to assault me?” Minho innocently rebutted._  
  
_“But crashing your lips onto mine,” Gwiboon cleared her throat once because the heat started spreading on her face, “it didn’t count as self-defense, Choi Minho. Did you even realize that now people would think we’re dating—“_  
  
_“—aren’t we dating already?”_  
  
_“—and all your girlfriends will haunt me down. My life pretty much wouldn't be the same anymore. It’s all because of your stupid demeanor. Have you thought about that? No, because your brain is in your pants.”_  
  
_Minho looked annoyed as he coldly threw his gaze onto her. “Did you even think before you speak?”_  
  
_It wasn’t their first fight, but it was the first time of them not speaking for weeks._

Gwiboon doesn’t have to worry about getting caught for crying her eyes out that night, because currently, Dongwoon is out, having a father- and son-in-law bonding time with Jonghyun. She’s been a little down because of the minor incident on the road this noon. If she has already had a second thought about her and Dongwoon, meeting Minho again turns her world upside down. She thinks she had over him years ago, but her pulse is just getting fast and her heart crushed when those big beams look at her again completely differently like they used to be.  
  
Rolling over and lying on her stomach, Gwiboon wipes the remaining tears on her cheeks and tries to ignore the knock on the door. It’s more like pounding than knocking, though. Ten years have passed, but only Minho who would knock three times on her door instead of ringing a bell, like a normal person. Gwiboon takes a deep breath and tries to keep herself calm. If only, if only she could turn back the clock again.  
  
“Choi Minho, what do you want?”  
  
Gwiboon leans on the door, looking at her feet with Minho standing in front of her. She only looks up when Minho’s feet seem to take two steps forward.  
  
“I don’t know why I’m here, I just—“ Minho doesn’t take his eyes off of her, and Gwiboon feels the warm liquid pooled on the corner of her eyes. “Gwiboon, I couldn’t—“  
  
“We just wanted to buy him new crayons and power rangers,” Gwiboon chews her lips and glances over at Minho, her cat-like eyes full of things she could never say years ago.  
  
Minho reaches out and touches her cheek gently. Gwiboon doesn’t flinch but biting her lips when Minho almost closes their gap. He's leaning forward to rest their foreheads together. Gwiboon only shifts a little to angle her head, arching her back when Minho captures her upper lips into a soft kiss. Her hands flail around, just for a moment, trying not to grab onto Minho because she shouldn’t have to kiss another man when she’s about to get married within a few days.  
  
“Gwi,”

Minho nips on her bottom lips and Gwiboon gives up as her eyes falling shut. Her arms wrapped around Minho and he lifts her up, hooking her legs around his torso. He kisses her like telling her the secret she’s not supposed to know. She kisses him like pouring her heart out.

“Gwiboon—“  
  
“—don’t,” she pulls away but Minho doesn’t let her go, still pressing his lips deeper and Gwiboon jogs him away, hopping down onto her feet with Minho still peppering kisses on her face. It takes all of her to get a grip and closes the door. She rests her back on the door and slides down onto the floor.  
  
“Gwiboon.” Minho knocks on the door hesitantly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I said to you. I was just, Yoogeun was… Gwi…”  
  
Gwiboon has to bite her hand to prevent her from opening the door once again and hugs him.

Why now, Minho?

Why now? 


End file.
